1. Shadow of Deals Past
The scent of rainfall had always served well to calm her troubled mind.
Perhaps most ponies might find it odd that she, Harbinger of the Dawn and Princess of the Sun, should find herself most at peace not when the skies were clear and blue and the land was bathed in her day’s warmth. Instead, Celestia favored either twilight—that precious time she and Luna could spend a few moments together while day ceded the land to night, and they joined one another for dinner—or moments like these. Moments where the pegasi graced their fair city with a good storm.
The scent of falling rain and ozone with each flash of lightning, the rumble of distant thunder, and that constant drumming on the rooftops and grounds below the balcony overlooking Canterlot’s eastern quarter never failed to put her ancient, worried mind at ease. It offered some small comfort as she considered her next actions and let it wander back to that fateful night.
Back to a night, just like this one, so many centuries ago. Back to those days following the Fall of Magic, the Shame of House Shimmer, and the deal. The deal which started it all.
Back to that night four centuries ago when she called in a favor to summon an old friend from her library, hidden deep in the Rolling Thunder Mountains to the south, nestled in the halls of Halla Eolais, and guarded jealously by her kin.
The night she made a deal with the Queen of the Seekers—they who thirsted for love and desire for knowledge above all else.
The night Magic found its home in their hooves.
The figure before her was quite fetching for a mare in her late twenties. Certainly one worthy of her stature and mind, her soft purple coat and pale pink mane, tied into a tight braid which wreathed her head like a crown, and enchanting amethyst eyes would have almost driven Celestia to inquire about dinner plans.
“I see you’re wearing a new face today, Queen Sireadh Firinn,” she greeted with a slight inclining of her head.
The mare smiled, her eyes shining with mischief, and perhaps just a touch of approval. “I like this one,” Sireadh mused as she gave her tail a merry swish. “It’s closer to my natural color, and it never fails to entice those adorable students and academics of yours to give their attention and engage when I approach for discussion.”
Celestia smiled. “Of course. And I wager Eolas approves wholeheartedly.”
“Oh, you’ve no idea,” she purred. “But I doubt you called for me so you might hear about my love life. May I?” The disguised Queen gestured to the plush purple cushion to Celestia’s right.
“Please.” With a wave of her gilded hoof, Celestia summoned her attendant. “Would you care for a drink? Anything you’d like, of course. My thanks for making the journey.”
“And mine for the offer. Brandy would be lovely, actually.” Sireadh smiled and nodded in greeting to the newcomer before the young stallion bowed and trotted off. Then, she took her seat, letting out a low, inequine purr as she got comfortable. “One day, I think I’ll convince you to part with the name of your cushion maker. You and Lulu always find the best, no matter how we try to imitate it.”
Celetia’s alabaster ears flicked, but she kept her expression neutral. “I might consider parting with such …” she trailed off, pretending to consider the notion, “valuable information. For a price.”
Her old friend leaned in, her eyes wide and unblinking. “You have my attention.”
“I have a bit of an … issue with one of our noble families.” She cringed inwardly even as she spoke. Why did it have to come to this?” “There has been a rather drastic change in their demeanor and attitude toward their fellow ponies, and it’s begun to cause problems we can ignore no longer.”
Sireadh tilted her head and fixed her with a puzzled look. “I mean no offense, old friend, but I fail to see how this is an issue to bring to me. Unless you’ve undergone a drastic change of heart toward teaching your subjects lessons and now favor other methods.” Idly, she began drumming her hooves upon the cushion. “Of course, I don’t mind lending a few hooves to do the job, and will guarantee your anonymity. But I do find this a rather odd request.”
Wincing, Celestia waved her off. “No, no, that won’t be necessary,” she replied hastily. “This is serious, yes, but I’d rather avoid that path. As for teaching, that would be rather difficult. This isn’t something so simple like refusing to treat others with respect or anything of the like that a word and lesson would solve. This has been going on for—” How long had it been, exactly? “—The better part of a generation.”
“Important then,” At Celetia’s nod, she hummed a low note. “Enough so that you would call upon not just the aid of the Seekers, but me, personally.” Sireadh chuckled and shook her head. “This is a rather troubling revelation.”
“I fear if things are are permitted to progress as they have, they will grow more troubling still.” Celestia drew close, lowering her voice so that it was little more than a murmur, “My sister’s dreams have been haunted of late.”
Sireadh stiffened, all trace of amusement gone. “You didn’t mention this in your letter!” she hissed.
The Princess of the Sun bowed her head. “My apologies. This is a rather sensitive issue—both personally and as head of state.”
“I gathered as much just a moment ago, but still.” Sighing, Sireadh leaned back in her cushion and closed her eyes, rubbing at her temples. After a moment, she opened them and spoke again, “Is Luna well, or were they like last time?”
Another wince. “I’ve had to brew a Draught of Dreamless Rest each night for a week so she might have some peace. I haven’t seen anything like this since Discord made his presence known.” A memory flashed before her eyes, drawing a shiver and rustle of wings. “If this continues, I fear for the state of her Dream Realm, and Harmony itself.”
Her old friend hummed in agreement. “This is quite serious then.” She sat in silence for a moment, again drumming her hooves upon the cushion. Her eyes, however, flitted away to look out over the city to take in the soothing sights of Canterlot in the midst of a storm. Eventually, she sighed and shook her head. “You’ve roused my curiosity. What is it that troubles her so?”
There it was. The moment she so dreaded.
Celestia turned her gaze away as well to look out over her precious city. The glowing lights in each window were always so lovely during these rainy nights.
Why had it come to this?
She closed her eyes and whispered softly, “Magic’s bearer has fallen from grace. The Element has lost its light, shrouded by her jealousy …” Say it. “And avarice.”
The words hung over them like a shining blade, the constant drum of rainfall the only sound between them.
Then, Celestia rose to step around the cushions and stand before Sireadh. “You know what I’m about to ask of you.”
“Unfortunately,” Sireadh replied evenly, she closed her eyes and exhaled through her nose. “I’m afraid your cushion maker’s name isn’t a fair price.”
“No. I figured not.” A rueful smile played upon her lips. “But I had to try.”
“Of course. I’d have likely done the same.”
“You’d have done worse, trickster Queen.”
Sireadh’s lips tugged into a sharklike grin. “Touché.” As quickly as it came, though, it vanished. “You realize what you’re asking of me?” she pressed. “You understand the power you’re putting in my hooves?”
Celesetia gave a solemn nod. “In multiple meanings, yes. I would have your word that you’ll come when called, like the others, and not hold this over our heads in that event. In exchange for the power you’ll hold.”
“An odd way to look at it, don’t you think?”
“How so?”
“Come now, don’t play games.” Sireadh raised a hoof. “I did not ask for this power. Now, I won’t say the offer isn’t … enticing.” A long, forked tongue ran over her lips. “Nor that it doesn’t present an opportunity to study an artifact we’ve longed for many years. But I’m more than aware of the burden, not to mention the danger it might bring to my kin should word get out.”
Her tail flicking, Celestia forced herself not to reveal any tells. “Of course.” She nodded once. “You will have my every assurance that none will ever know you hold M—”
The disguised Queen held up a hoof to silence her. “Don’t speak it aloud. Ever,” she said, her tone eerily reminiscent of Celestia’s long-lost teacher. “I expect you to follow the course of utmost silence in exchange for me stealing from House Shimmer alone.”
The sting of her words did draw a wince this time. “You have it.” She bowed her head. “Neither Luna nor I will ever speak of what your line will wield, and what you hold in Halla Eolais, I swear it. Should it ever come that it is revealed, it will be by you and yours, none other.” She paused, allowing Sireadh a moment to breathe a sigh of relief, then said, “What terms would you ask of me in exchange for acting on our behalf?”
Sireadh thought for a moment, her hooves again beat out a rhythm on the cushion. “I have a lot of kin in this city,” she mused. “I have kin in many of your cities. They love it here. They love to teach yours and learn from them in kind.”
“I know.” A tiny smile played upon her lips. “They’re wonderful students, and loving teachers.”
“Yes. Yes, they are.” Sireadh’s amethyst eyes hardened. “I’ll not have them harmed by the ponies they sat and learned with should they be outed, or should our cousins’ actions turn our love into our folly.” Her jaw set, she fixed Celestia with a piercing gaze. “I want your word they will be protected should that ever come to pass. I want your word no law shall be written to allow them hunted and pulled from their homes.”
Lightning flashed. For an instant, Celestia saw her disguise falter, and a pair of gleaming fangs poked down from her upper lip.
Then, in a swift flash of arcane green fire, the disguise was in place once more.
Anger. Fear. Worry. All for the safety of her kin. How could she be faulted?
Celestia knew it all too well herself. It was her own fear for her ponies’ safety which drove her to call upon her old friend, for there were none better to wield it than she. Who else wielded such talent and shared it with those around her? For a small price, yes.
Protecting one another was hardly an unfair deal.
Her horn shimmered brilliant gold, Celestia removed her gilded shoe and offered Sireadh her naked hoof. “You have my word,” she said softly. “I’ll see to it personally. And should that day ever come, I’ll see to it they are returned to Halla Eolais unharmed.”
Sireadh nodded and clasped her hoof tight. “Then we have a deal. My line will wield it on your behalf, and you will protect my kin living within your borders on mine.”
Four hundred years.
That deal had stayed sound for four hundred years without incident, without any whisper of a problem. Sireadh had kept true to her word, and her kin found safety, security, and ponies who would love and share their desire for knowledge in those bastions of high education.
Celestia closed her eyes tight. How she hated this so.
But what other choice was there? That wretch had ruined so much—her niece’s wedding, her ponies’ sense of security, and worse.
Far worse.
Their sense of trust in friend, family, and neighbor alike had been shattered. Already there were rumblings in the noble houses, whispers in the streets as ponies’ eyes shifted this way and that, wondering who was real and who was but a mask.
Suspicion. Fear. Distrust.
They wanted to know who was pony and who wasn’t.
They wanted a full hunt. Once again, the delicate Harmony in her land was threatened.
Once again, she would have to call upon the bearers, all of them. Houses Apple, Belle, Pie, Shy, and Rainbow would answer readily, coming without question as they ever did. And so too, would another. But this time, she didn’t call upon that mysterious pony who came from their home in a land unknown in Equestria’s darkest hour, and vanished as soon as the storm had passed.
She sighed and looked at the bound scroll resting on her cushion, waiting to be sent. It was time. She’d delayed far too long as it was, and possibly made things worse as a result.
Celestia took a deep breath and cast the spell. Green fire devoured the scroll in seconds and sent a tendril of shimmering smoke slithering off into the night.
The Bearer of Magic was needed, but this time not as some mystery savior.
This time, she was needed to emerge from the halls of Halla Eolais as diplomat of the Seekers on the eleventh hour before chaos between races reigned. She was needed to put suspicion to rest, and ease Luna’s haunted dreams.
“And now,” Celestia whispered, quoting her long-lost teacher, “the die is cast.”
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Always exciting to read one of your stories, I look forward to more
Well, this looks fascinating. There are far more changes at work here than just changeling Twilight. I eagerly look forward to exploring this world.
Loving this, and In can't wait for more!
And you know, I think I like stories like this where Celestia actually already KNOWS about the Changelings, and is actually friends with them.
VERY cool, they are.
Been a while since I last read a good Changeling Twilight story. This should be good.
So to make sure I understand its this Twilight a changeling princess?
shit this is intense
Lemme just mash the 'tracking' button as quickly as possible. There we go. This sounds fantastic already and I'm on for the ride.
I rather like this approach. It's got a good mix of things, and builds the world nicely between just talk and being.
Also cute Love Bug for you.
8985512 Dude, I'm resisting urges to just do a oneshot with her and Shiny. That pic is goddamn adorable.
wow this is a great story about changelings who's it-
GODDAMNIT CARAPACE
Alea iacta est....
i LOVE that picture. so much detail!! also, i love the story idea. was wondering when you'd do a 'twi is a ling' story. seems like everyone is doing it... least, they were at one point.
8985515
Make it a side story to this if you can? Give in to the temptations...
But i figured this might have been one you had done with the cover art chosen.
Extra me?
Also, eagerly looking forward to where this one goes.
Oh my god. This seems like such a good fic. Not to mention, you have set up the main villain of this fic: House Shimmer. I have a feeling they won't be happy to know that the Seekers are the ones that possess Magic, given that it used to be theirs.
Interesting. I take it that Luna turning into NMM didn't happen in this AU? Or hasn't happened yet?
Also:
I believe you accidentally a word. as she gave her tail, perhaps?
Promising premise. I wonder if Sunset will show sooner or later to claim her ancestral birthright?
I can't wait for more.
Well a Carapace story just hit my feed today. I have a feeling that this is going to be a good one. If my memory is correct all of your stories are high quality and highly entertaing.
Is it wrong that I want more of this story right now?
you have my interest
Once more unto the 'X character is a changeling' stories.
What an interesting AU. As will all your stories, I am both completely captivated and intrigued.
MORE I SAY!!!
Interresting
Well...we'll have to see where this one goes...
Got me attention ladi!!!
Now onwards to the next chapters!!!!
starecat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/you-had-my-curiosity-but-now-you-have-my-attention-leonardo-dicaprio-django.jpg
looks really promising, looking forward to how this will proceed
I’m curious where you got all the names for the Seeker’s house and name.
8986478
Sounds Irish/Gaelic to me.
8986510
Wouldn’t surprise me now that I think on it. Changelings have a few things in common with old faerie tales.
8986516
You mean the fact that Changeling is the term used for a faerie child used to replace a newborn so that they can be raised on human milk and love?
It really is the only thing I can think of in the show itself, people have done more to make the whole Fae-Pony thing than the show ever did.
8986566
I was mostly thinking about the near universally evil thing they had going on. A surprisingly large number of fae are amazingly hostile, or at least incredibly uncaring to humanity. Plus the whole queen thing always made me think of a version of Queen Titania I saw once. Plus a few modern interpretations of smaller faeries give them insect like qualities.
Very interesting so far you have my attention.
Oh gosh, the response for this has been rather good, better than I thought it would be. So time for some late replies:
8985392 I'm glad to hear! Hopefully what comes next will continue to entertain!
8985394 Hehe yes! As you can see, I decided to go a little bit different in terms of how things got started out. I think you'll like Twilight when she shows up.
8985399 Yeah, I really wanted to go with a deep dive on this one. I have another idea for, like, a oneshot with changeling Twi that's still deeper, but not so built up like this. But lately I've been just itching to go nuts with worldbuilding. :3
8985426 Agreed. I like to think of them as a foe/entity forgotten by most ponies except in legend. Well, save for those who might have been around to deal with their tricks in the past.
8985443 I hope to deliver!
8985447 Yar!
8985468 Handing over power to a foreign ruler is bound to be~ >:D
8985497 That poor tracking button. It never knew what was coming.
8985540 You thought it was another author! But it was me,
DioCarapace!8985588 Yessssssssss. I had to throw a reference to Caesar in this. It just seemed to fit Tia far too well. And it does kinda seem like something Star Swirl might say.
8985603 The picture was just too perfect. Like I said above, I had another idea for her as a ling, but this was a bit less dark and more ... idk, something about her appearance just sparked that "she's interested, she's intrigued, she leads a hive of inquisitive, studious buggos" idea.
8985618 Aaaaaaaaaaah, unfortunately I can't. You'll see why ^^;
8985620 Derp >.>; And I hope you enjoy it ^^
8985649 Mmmm, some yes, some no in your comment. But we can both agree, the mares of House Shimmer probably aren't happy with Sireadh Firinn :3
8985686 Correct. NMM never happened here. Sireadh Firinn and her husband, Eolas, are younger than the sisters, but still count as peers by age and strength.
8985824 :3
8985839 Oh dear, I guess I'd better make my updates come quickly ^^;
8985864 But do I have your attention? /stares
8985910 I think Minds Eye beat me to the joke aimed at that one, sadly. lol
8985965 I hope you enjoy it as much as the others, then! I think you might enjoy Halla Eolas when we see it ^^
8986105 Yay~
8986190 >:3 yesssss
8986309 wooohoooooo! \o/ No brakes >:D
8986368 Thanks! I hope you enjoy the next one when I put it out!
8986478 8986510 Irish/Gaelic is correct. I wanted to go with something a bit more close to that, since I typically dabble in the idea that they're faelike in my other stories. Plus, it gives me a little something as a plot point~
8986566 The show kinda borrowed it and did little nods to it here and there. But hey, that means I get to just go wild with it in mine :3
8986568 ehhh, yes and no. The hostile ones get the notoriety. There's a lot of them that play the angle that they'll help you out and do nice things for you unless you offend them in some way. I.E. the backstory behind Sleeping Beauty being that Maleficent is another faerie who felt insulted that she wasn't invited to the party, even though the King and Queen chose not to invite her because they didn't have another set of nice chair/plate/silverware for her and felt that would be a greater slight in front of her peers.
8986661 Hehehe I hope to hold onto it~
8986796 Indeed.
8986796
if it means more gladly
8986796
Res ipsa loquitur.
8986796
Na, that was really for myself. I got into MLP less than year ago so I spend a lot of time reading older works (sorry, haven't read your "Respite" series yet thats on my to do list :P ). With hindsight, I can see how the community moved from trend to trend and "X character is a changeling"-story is definitely a trend that went away for a while (the community dumped Thorax real fast).
8987407 Have they? I don't really pay much attention. I know he's apparently a favorite of some plush commissioners.
Carapace, we know you have only just started this, but how about a small seed that you may or may not pass on to someone else:
Everyone is a changeling AU (interpret that as you please, either instead of ponies, they are all changelings, or everyone is a changeling thinking the others are ponies and we get changelings pretending to be ponies based off of other changelings pretending to be ponies hilarity)
What a great re-introduction for me to have to your writing. Wasn't sure about the premise before reading, but I stand 100% corrected. The worldbuilding in this is fantastic, and doesn't feel intrusive despite how much you've crammed in. I'm utterly hooked already.
8987573
I recall a story like that except Celestia, Luan, Twilight, Trixie and Blue blood where really unicorns(unicorns grew wings after a 2nd purberty) and Pikie Pie wasn't a changeling, she was 25 Changelings with one mind.
Wait, let me get this straight.
The canon Twilight never existed, and instead there's some kind of immortal Twilight? Or is the title passed on form generation to generation? I deduce from the description that it's the latter, but I don't get all of it... someone halp!
8987411
Unless a plush commissioner sitting on a hundred orders for Thorax plushies, I'm willing to bet that Thorax is not THAT popular.
As for the other part of your post, I try not to get my comments deleted anymore.
8987573 I believe that's been done a few time in comedy bits.
8987845 Hehe, I'm glad it was able to catch your eye then! Good seeing you around and chatting with you last night ^^
8987917 Something like that yeah. I never read it.
8988019 the answer is changelings
8988161 I fail to see why it has to be a hundred of them, but I've been seeing some patterns of him floating around of late among the non-spaz crowd. So I guess my point is "he's got some level of popularity in the fandom." Not so much that he's super popular. Enough so that people like reading about him still, it seems. /shrug
8986568
I've picked up the opinion that Fae just have a different moral system to us, so what we think is basic kindness they see as inbelievably rude.
To a Fae there is nothing worse than breaking a promise, or reneging on a deal, and while we mortals might consider it inconsequal, somebody not paying us back for giving them some fries, the Fae would have to pay it back, and if they couldn't it would slowly drive them mad. Gifts must be repaid, oaths must be kept, their basic nature must be followed.
Honestly I think the Dresden Files does it best, but they've had about 15 books, and a good few short stories, comics, and a TV show to get it done.
Holy mother of god this is good! The world-building, the palapable tension, the foreshadowing... all in one chapter!! And you achieved all this without info-dumping as most AU fic authors are wont to do. Your writing grows more and more amazing.
8988748
I’ve always found it interesting just how many supernatural creatures are 100% bound by oath or contract. Also I just assumed it wasn’t that their morals are hugely different but that they view us as unimportant due to how short a human life is when compared to their own.
8989175
Well they kind of need us to exist, at least in the stories I've read, the Fae / Sidhe are created by human belief in stories, and ascribing certain folk-tales to certain places, fetish worship, etc, etc, and the actual forces of nature. So Fae are like 50% natural phenomemon, and 50% actual fairy tale.
8989278
Belief is where you find it.
Or to put that in more words, supernatural beings of any scope thrive as much on belief as they do on their own existences. From the mightiest of gods to the smallest of sprites, the belief of intelligent life shapes the supernatural as something more than just 'lightning' or 'thunder' or 'hungry teeth just beyond the firelight'. If humans stop believing in gods or demons or anything else, those things go back to merely being cloud formations and human cruelty and shadows in the dark.
This is how gods die, even.
8988670
Cryptic. Not very useful, but cryptic.
I suppose one should expect that from you.
That being said, I suppose you telling me will result in spoilers, so maybe this is for the best.